Mortifying Error-Filled Summer Reading List Released By NY School District

How embarrassing! Business Insider reports that a New York School District, Hempstead, has released a mortifying summer reading list filled with cringe-worthy errors. In a video reel produced by Yahoo! News, at least one district student could not control his uproarious laughter as he looked at list, which included Animal Farm written by “George Ornell” and a book by F. Scott Fitzgerald called The Great Gypsy. In all, reports Business Insider, there were over 30 mistakes on the list. “Something like this… I mean, reading is knowledge. You’ve got to take your time with something like that,” said the student. He also said that the list encourages “illiteracy in his neighborhood,” reports the Associated Press.

“I think it’s disgusting. People need to learn English,” said another woman interviewed. “No public institution should be sending out improper information.” The list also included Jane Eyre by “Charlotte Bonte,” The Lovely Bone by Alice Sebold and The Bluest Eyes by Toni Morrison. The list was titled “Hempstead Public Schools Summer Reading List 2013- Eleventh and Twelve Grade.”

We will assume that those reading this article know all of the corrections to these egregious errors. The school district issued a statement equivalent to a “we’re sorry but we do have an excuse!” type of apology. The reason for the horrible disgrace is because they don’t have “a stable administration,” they claim.

Newsday reports that the educator responsible for releasing the list has been “disciplined.” However, it’s not one person’s problem. It’s really just a glaring symptom of a growing cancer among American educators, and that cancer is audacious stupidity and a complete unwillingness to address the underlying issue of the devaluation of intelligence. Grammar and spelling, particularly, are two areas which have been basically destroyed.

Educational website readwritethink.org recently offered a lesson plan on its site entitled “Analyzing Grammar Rants: An Alternative to Traditional Grammar Instruction.” Its companion lesson, entitled “Analyzing Grammar Pet Peeves” says that when people rant about grammar, they are simply revealing their own underlying prejudiced attitudes about class and race. It claims that-

The idea that a person’s grammar usage is “correct” or “incorrect,” “proper” or “improper” can “perpetuate cultural prejudices regarding class and race.” Analyzing grammar “rants” and pet peeves can help students become “savvy writers” who “develop rhetorical knowledge of audience and context.”

In fact, it seems no traditional grammar lesson exists on the site at all, and instead, the concept that “ranting” about grammar is simply racist and “prejudiced” pervades the educational offerings there. This kind of political correctness run amok is an insanity of the highest order. It seems the folks who run the website are assuming that students are incapable of learning proper and correct grammar because of their race or class, and that those who believe in proper grammar are racist. This line of thinking by the educators who run the website does a tremendous disservice to everyone trying to learn from their products. If they could see how horrified the students of the Hempstead School District are about the botched reading list, maybe they would change their minds. Those students and residents of the school district are of all different races, and every one of them thinks the reading list is an abomination.

Thank goodness there are still kids who exist in the world who realize that yes, “proper” and “correct” grammar and spelling are real concepts that impact their lives. Hopefully these kids can one day take over and right this terrible wrong that is being done to them by such hugely ignorant adults.